


Before the Christmas Nightmare (AKA Molly's New Hobby)

by 3seconds



Series: Taxidermy Mouse [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Episode: s02e01 A Scandal in Belgravia, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Halloween if you squint, Missing Scene, Screenplay/Script Format, Sherlolly - Freeform, Sherlolly if you squint, Taxidermy, lots and lots of squinting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 21:37:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21143606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3seconds/pseuds/3seconds
Summary: Molly takes up a hobby. Sherlock offers her some advice and gets more than he bargained for.A couple of missing scenes set duringA Scandal in Belgravia.(Not quite a Halloween story and not quite a Christmas story. Maybe both, maybe neither. It mentions a monster at any rate.)





	Before the Christmas Nightmare (AKA Molly's New Hobby)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a year or two ago and posted it on Tumblr, but didn’t get it posted here. Since it’s that time of year again, it seemed like a good time to dust it off and let it see the light of day. Sort of a fluffy, not at all scary, Halloween-ish if you squint, sort of thing. True to _**The Nightmare Before Christmas**_ which inspired the name, it’s not quite a Halloween story and not quite a Christmas story.
> 
> Originally inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance in Frankenstein and the fact that Arwel Wynn Jones (BBC Sherlock’s set designer) gave Molly a hobby… https://twitter.com/arwelwjones/status/821159703371718657 
> 
> Happy Halloween!

** _Barts Hospital, Pathology Lab. Nighttime._ ** _ It’s late and the lab is mostly empty. Sherlock sits at one of the benches, examining a series of slides, only shifting his attention from the microscope eyepiece to remove one slide and load the next. At the back, on the opposite side of the lab, Molly Hooper sits at a different bench. A task light illuminates a set of small tools and supplies spread out in front of her._

_Upon reaching the last of his slides, Sherlock leans back from the microscope and stretches his neck and shoulders before glancing around the lab. His gaze falls on Molly. He gets up and quietly moves across the room._

_Molly is turned away, carefully reviewing information on a laptop that’s propped beside her work station. Engrossed in following the instructions on the screen, she doesn’t hear Sherlock approach._

**SHERLOCK** (_staring down at the small wire figure and bunch of cotton in her hand_): Wrap the wadding tighter.

**MOLLY** (_With a start_): Oh! …What?

**SHERLOCK** (_gesturing at her work_): The cotton. Wrap it tighter. It’ll compress when you apply the hide. Wrap it tighter or you’ll have lumpy results.

**MOLLY** (_Looks down at what she’s doing _): Ah, erm… okay. I’ll try that. I’ve never done this before. I’m probably making a right hash of it.

**SHERLOCK**: Not at all. Your frame is sturdy, and the proportions look accurate, just go with more wadding than you think you need and wrap it tighter.

**MOLLY** (_beginning to unwind and rewrap the cotton around the small figure_): Yes, alright. Thank you.

_Molly looks up at him questioningly but doesn’t say anything._

**SHERLOCK** (_seeming to read her mind_): I learnt taxidermy as a child. We lived in the countryside. Loads of mice for practice. Bit of a busman’s holiday for you though.

**MOLLY**: I don’t plan to take it up as a hobby, it’s just… I had this one idea and thought I’d give it a go.

_Sherlock nods and begins to turn away. Molly looks momentarily desperate to keep his attention._

**MOLLY**: Besides, Mortimer died, so it was sort of now or never.

**SHERLOCK**: Mortimer?

_His focus moves to a small metal cage sitting empty on one of the shelves. He stops himself from rolling his eyes, but he can’t keep sarcasm from seeping into his reply as he continues._

**SHERLOCK**: You named the lab mouse, because of course you did.

**MOLLY**_ (mostly ignoring his tone)_: I know. It’s silly. I was sort of attached to him though. He was a survivor. I respect that.

**SHERLOCK** (_wrinkling his nose and finally allowing himself to roll his eyes_): Sentiment.

_Molly shrugs and goes back to wrapping cotton around what will form the mouse’s head. Sherlock watches her for a moment._

**SHERLOCK**: Much better.

_Molly ducks her head to hide her smile as she continues working, setting down the cotton wrapped frame and picking up the small white and pink hide she’s about to affix around it._

_Sherlock takes a few steps back toward his microscope when his eyes fall back onto the empty cage. He frowns and turns back to Molly._

**SHERLOCK**: A live mouse in pathology? Someone’s idea of a joke?

**MOLLY**: One of the students rescued him from the oncology lab. He miraculously survived three different studies, any one of which should have been fatal. I guess they thought he’d been through enough and figured no one would look for anything alive in here.

**SHERLOCK** (_with a quick a lopsided smirk_): Ironic.

**MOLLY** (_smiling herself as she rambles on_): Yeah, and it worked too. Nobody really noticed him. Mike and I took it in turns keeping him fed and what have you. He was sweet. Never bit anyone. Mortimer, I mean… (_suppressing a giggle_) although Mike doesn’t bite either. So, which do you think? Frankenstein or the creature?

**SHERLOCK** (_ blinking in confusion_): What?

**MOLLY**: You know, mad scientist reanimates a dead body with an abi-normal brain?

_She gives a little snort of laughter before continuing._

**MOLLY:** Played famously by Boris Karloff? I’m going to dress Mortimer up as either Dr. Frankenstein–I’ve got a little lab coat for him and everything–or as the monster. I could maybe dye him green and glue some bolts on…

**SHERLOCK**: Yes, I’m familiar with the Mary Shelley story. Why not both?

**MOLLY**: Both? Together?

**SHERLOCK**: You are going for humor, are you not?

**MOLLY** (_features shifting from confusion to a smile as the idea sinks in_): Oh… of course. Clever! And it reminds me of the play.

_Sherlock gives her a blank look._

**MOLLY**: I saw it at the National Theatre last year. Stood in line all night for tickets. Two actors shared both roles. One would play Victor Frankenstein one night and the Creature the next.

**SHERLOCK**: Sounds…arduous.

**MOLLY**: Oh, I’m sure it was. My only disappointment was I couldn’t get tickets to the one I wanted to see. I had to settle for the other.

**SHERLOCK**: Let me guess, one of the actors was (_raising his eyebrows and_ _mockingly making air quotes_) “destined for super-stardom”.

**MOLLY **_(Yet again mostly ignoring his sarcasm)_: No, they were both brilliant. It’s just… there’s a scene where the creature is brought to life and he’s starkers, and erm… (_blushing_) well the one is very fit and, oh… never mind.

_Molly waves a hand and forces a cheerful smile to cover her embarrassment_. _She awkwardly glances up at Sherlock, who doesn't respond, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Molly looks a bit dejected as she returns to working the mouse hide around the cotton wrapped form._

_Sherlock shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts before silently retrieving his coat and leaving Molly alone in the lab._

* * *

** _Two months later. Barts hospital Pathology Lab. Nighttime._ ** _ The scene is almost a repeat of the previous one. The lab is deserted. Sherlock sits alone at a microscope. Molly enters quietly humming a Christmas carol and carrying two cups of coffee. She sets one down beside Sherlock and he looks up from his work with a nod of appreciation._

**MOLLY**: Two sugars, just how you like it.

_Sherlock takes a sip, frowns and sets the cup down._

**SHERLOCK**: Thank you Molly, that’s erm…

_He screws up his lips in distaste and his eyes land on the cage sitting empty on the top shelf._

**SHERLOCK**: Where’s Martin?

**MOLLY**: Who?

**SHERLOCK** (_gestures in the direction of the empty cage_): Martin? …Marvin? The taxidermy mouse.

**MOLLY**: Oh! You mean Mortimer. One of the interns complained. Some ridiculous rule about not keeping personal items in the lab. Funny enough, I think he creeped her out.

**SHERLOCK**: She won’t last long. The mouse was funny.

**MOLLY** (_smiling_): I know. That’s ok though, I have a plan to give him a permanent home with someone who appreciates him.

**SHERLOCK** (_complaining _): Be careful, even good flat mates are notoriously difficult to live with. What if his constantly brings home a string of perpetually more tedious girlfriends or runs off to visit his alcoholic sister just because of some holiday?

**MOLLY** (_with a chuckle _): Surely it can’t be that bad, and it's only for the holiday.

_Sherlock silently responds with a scowl and Molly keeps talking to fill the awkward silence._

**MOLLY:** And anyway, I’m pretty sure Mortimer’s new flat mate doesn’t have a girlfriend _(her smile falters a bit, but she recovers quickly)_ …or a sister.

_Sherlock casts a stealthy glance at Molly as she turns away to check the autoclave machine. He gets up and crosses the room while Molly adjusts the settings on the machine. When she’s done, she turns in his direction and squeaks in surprise to find him standing right in front of her._

**SHERLOCK **: Speaking of the holiday, Mrs. Hudson insisted on having a Christmas do at Baker Street and asked after you. _ (he glances up and down at her and then at her work station)_ and since you obviously don't have plans- 

**MOLLY** _(shocked but beaming at him, and cutting him off in her hurry to respond)_: I’d love to!

* * *

** _Baker Street. Christmas Eve._ ** _ Molly Hooper has recently arrived wearing a black evening dress and bearing gifts. Everyone is gathered in front of the fire. Sherlock is in the middle of making rapid-fire deductions and making a monstrous arse of himself._

**SHERLOCK**: Oh, come on! Surely, you’ve all seen the present at the top of the bag. Perfectly wrapped with a bow. All the others are slap-dash at best. It’s for someone special then…

-###-

**Author's Note:**

> So, there’s my answer to the years-old question of what Molly gave Sherlock for Christmas that time… :) There might be a tiny bit more to this if anyone is interested. Please let me know if there's any reason for me to get it out of my head and into words.


End file.
